Department of Labor orders work to stop on $9M First District Water Department project

By JEFF DALEHour Staff Writer

Published
3:04 pm EDT, Thursday, August 7, 2014

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Stop Work Order posted on the fence of the water tower construction site on Grandview Ave. on Thursday

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Stop Work Order posted on the fence of the water tower construction site on Grandview Ave. on Thursday

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Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Stop Work Order posted on the fence of the water tower construction site on Grandview Ave. on Thursday

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Stop Work Order posted on the fence of the water tower construction site on Grandview Ave. on Thursday

Department of Labor orders work to stop on $9M First District Water Department project

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NORWALK -- Construction work was halted Thursday on a $9 million First District Water Department project that is scheduled to be completed in November.

According to a "Stop-Work Order" posted at the site of the massive water tower at 34 Grandview Ave., the State of Connecticut Department of Labor Wage and Workplace Standards Division has ordered all business at the worksite to cease.

According to the order, the stoppage is based on violations including failure to secure the payment of worker's compensation, misrepresenting employees as independent contractors and materially understating or concealing payroll.

The order went on to read that it will remain in effect until the Department of Labor releases the order and any employer who conducts business will be fined $1,000 a day.

The $8.8 million project will replace the existing 100,000-gallon water tank, a 108-foot high, 35-foot wide structure built in 1939, with a million gallon tank that stands 121 feet high and spans 74 feet in width.

Three contractors are engaged on the project. Caldwell Tanks, of Louisville, Ky., is building the new water tank. M. Rondano, Inc., of Norwalk, has largely installed more than a mile of new water mains throughout the area, according to the Taxing District.

C.H. Nickerson & Co., Inc., of Torrington, is building the new pumping station, into which two modern electric pumps and a third, diesel-powered backup pump, have been installed.